Sunshine in the pot... (Brisbane Day 3)

I wonder if any photograph can express some of the wonderful scenes that I have seen across the North of Brisbane. We've trekked our way up to the sunshine coast today and i've had a wonderful day but let me not get ahead of myself. I'll be happy to give everyone a step by step walk through my seriously packed day around northern Brisbane.

We started the day with the drive up past Australia Zoo; this is the zoo set up by Steve Irwing, the Crocodile Man. However, we were not going to do a zoo today. My amazing hosts wanted to give me yet another surprise. Yes, If only you could guess; they brought Africa back in front of me.

We went to this wonderful restaurant called the Key's restaurant. The chef a Ghanian lady who has a story of her own. You can find details of this place online. The taste was phenomenal. I have to say with the limited spices and other limitations of being in another country, I was sent back to my lunch breaks in high school back in Botswana. I think, this is where I should make each one of you salivate with the pictures that I have to show you.

Now that your salivating; i'm going to tell you that this was as authentic as you can get to African cuisine.

The view from the restaurant was not as breath taking however, we did move to another place that made the view from any other place insignificant. To top it off, there was a painter sitting and painting the lovely scene and doing a darn good job at it too.

Imagine this picture in vivid oil colours in the hands of a skilled painter. That was what I saw. I should have taken a picture of that but I did not do that. :( I'm sad I did not. I think that was probably the picture that I never took that i'll regret on this trip. Nevertheless, right behind this scene was a natural tropical forest that we took a friendly trek into. 

Yes they are...

Enable GPS Systems...

A true MCCian at heart

What befell me in the forest was a sight that I could not have imagined. From the very dry and semi arid place that Australia looked to be like, I was astounded to see a tropical rainforest with all the fauna and flora right there in the midst of all this chaos. It was unbelievable.

As true to our heritage, we had to be MCCians and enjoy nature as much as muck about as much as possible and enjoy ourselves too. This mixed with the laid back Aussie nature is something to reckon with.

The nature lover that I am, I decided to walk on and continue to observe the undergrowth and after a moment of silence, you see the beautiful animals come to life and go about their daily business. These tiny birds even dared to come close to us as we walked the forest path that was laid out. I caught out on camera though as I peaked into the undergrowth of the dense bush. 

We left the forest reserve and went off to take a look out at the lookout.

This was the sight that befell us. From there, it was a quick drive to the Beach. Just to see what Australian beaches were all about but not to really get on the beach. That was for the next day. 

At the beach, I just fell in love with the amazing artwork made out of coloured tiles that was made. What it was is still something of a mystery to me but I was awestruck at it.

I could not really get my head around it.

After about another hour of driving from the beach, I was taken to a spectacular sight. This was Noosa, a secluded area where all the money comes to for any kind of holiday this side of the country. Even more amazing was the scenery. In the evening sun, it was picturesque and All I could do was look in amazement as to probably why the settlers first came here and made the place so secluded. We walked into a reserve where they have protected the environment and this made some of the places a little difficult to reach but still, i was good. Just take a look.

Looking out into the ocean with the sky decorated with clouds

The Heber Boys Boiling Pot (No pun intended)

The Man

The fantastic duo

Boiling Pot 1

Boiling Pot 2 (overflow)

We waited for the day to come to an end and we were rewarded with this awesome image of the evening sun setting over the main land across the bay. These are the colours that I call, beautiful. Gold. Wonder what HE was thinking when he made all this.

Sunset over Noosa

The Parade on a Prado (Brisbane Day 2)

Overnight, I really could not sleep and what the reason was, baffled me completely. I had no clue whatsoever. This made me wake up completely tired and very dull. Breakfast served, it was time to get out of the house and travel around.

Our mode of travel today was a beast. Unusually one that I've never really had a chance to get a ride on for all these year. It was waiting for this particular moment to show itself to me, I guess.

Prado all the way

I was going to enjoy this trip. I did not care what was to come in my way. I was determined to enjoy. The heat was picking up and touching 33 degrees Celsius. Yes, the dry air was not very pleasing either, still, with the car on the move and the a/c on full, who would know the difference between 33 and 20. Really. It made no difference whatsoever. This monster pulled away and simply rolled off into the country. This was tropical whether. Dry and Hot. I expected a little more umph! from the climate and I did not have to wait too long. It started to rain.

Bush walking was what was planned for the day today. I wished it would not rain but this was the first set of rains in the area. I was not going to complain about it. My rainforest treks would come to good use. After all, this was just water. Nothing more right? And on the forest floor, what else would be better; the canopy protects the ground below anyway. This was great.

Our first destination was Binna Burra.



Here, we planned to go for the caves circuit walk but was sadly unable because of the rain. We did stop at the lodge that was there and decided to have a lovely lunch.

 I thought i'd share some of the pictures that I took of the lodge itself. From the entrance, this is what one sees.

Beautiful trees that surround the lodge bring out the beauty of the landscape with the contrasting views.

This beautiful restaurant gave us a sense of hanging over the edge of the mountain. In a sense; I was astounded by the similarity that the place had with Nandi hills (minus the people of course). Even the way it was made was absolutely amazing. with the wooden buildings and old rustic feel.

The clouds rolled over the hills as one could see rain falling in the distance as well. We decided after lunch that it was time to make a move. One has only so much patience and we wanted to go and see other sites.

On our way, it was as though we ended up in a place just like in the Lord of the Rings. One has to see it to believe it. Was really awestruck to see the sight. I have to say that the picture looks better than the real thing because I could zoom in.



We worked our way down the hills again and ended up near a dam. Circumventing the dam, we arrived at a place called the natural bridge. This was truly exciting. here was a bridge that was formed which was natural in every way you could think of. There was even a hole in the roof of the cave that I had seen. The place supposedly even had glow worms. Yeah... Glow worms. Did not see a single one though. :(

This was really good jungle. Set deep in Queensland country. But I was told, this is really not the only way in which Queensland appears. There are various avatars too.

After all the journey, we ended up in a nice cute little township on top of a hill I cannot remember the name of and had a small cup of Roiboos tea. Yes, South African Bush tea in the middle of Australia. What an amalgamation of culture this really is.

By the end of the day, I was truly tired. I just wanted to see the bed. We came home calculated, how much we traveled the whole trip. Yes, we did 350 kilometres. Now that is a lot of distance to do in a day with all the sight seeing which was hindered completely with the rain.

Tomorrow is a new day, and i'm looking forward to a sunny and bright day. At least that is what the whether forecast says. We'll see what happens.

Ferry him in; said he...(Brisbane Day 1)

I woke up this morning at 7am, thinking, oh no, i'm going to be late. This is not what I need. I should have been ready by this time. I was really excited to get going but my body was tired. The late night of packing and getting ready really did not ensure I was off the line faster this morning.

Finally waking up and getting ready, Kaye kindly dropped me off at the airport and I ensured that I got onto the right flight. My friend, with whom I was staying told me to make sure that I don't get onto the wrong flight and end up in Indonesia or something. How can you get it wrong. Impossible. But you never know in this automated world we live in what just might happen. This man, an MCCian in every way, decided to get me going. I needed to meet a few people and I tried my best to do so. It really did not work out. So, we got on with the existing plans that he had made.

Like raw materials in the hands of a skilled worker, I have been given no impression as to what is to happen here in Brisbane. All I know is that I am in good hands. What more do I need to know. We pick up a pass and start off walking to the riverside along which this lovely city has been made.

The Work Place

En route, we stopped to take photos of the various highlights of the city. The CBD (Central Business District) as it is affectionately called.





We ended up at a ferry stop. And a catamaran styled boat called the city cat pulled up as we entered for an amazing and beautiful ride up stream. This has got to be something to recon with.

Ferry Ride "City Cat"

As we travelled upstream, the sights that befell my eyes were true to what I could never see anywhere else. I could see the various inputs of the world right in front of my very eyes. Singapore, Hong Kong, it all looked similar, even bits and pieces of San Francisco. Amazed and awed, It was one heck of a trip. Almost 2 hours later, we rocked up back to the place we started. To top off everything, we had some of the best whether Brisbane has had in quite a while is what I was told.

Typical Queensland House

Singapore Style...

Hong Kong Style buildings

We finally started on the 25-55 minute travel home. The time varies depending on the traffic. We got stuck in peak hour traffic. Just the sight of traffic and the sheer number of people I saw in the main central mall was a sight for sore eyes to me. I was dreading going back to the mayhem of chennai.


How I will appreciate the tranquility of MCC campus vs the chaos of Chennai city. This is a shock even for those who live in Adelaide and come to places like this. One cannot really understand the difficulties of it at times. Its just weird. I even got the a notion that Adelaide is just a lovely village/country city. Nothing more. No hustling and bustling of anything or any sort. I wish the world was such an uneventful life. I guess going via Brisbane before touching Sydney is good because I don't want to have an unnatural shock.

By the waterside

Under a tree. LOL

This was just half day. We finally reached home. And what a splendid place it was. Chechi made some authentic Indian cuisine and I am tasting Indian food for just the second time after getting to Australia. I indulged into the food. I cannot wait to see what Day 2 here has to offer. It is going to be a treat. I just know it.

In all this, I sit back and recall the mercy and favour of God in all that I am experiencing. I truly do. Six years I have waited to see this country and HE is making it a treat for me to see. I'm really tired and really want to sleep now. I look forward to waking up in the morning.

To the Ranges and back (Day 1)

This post is quite late but I simply did not have the time to do any sort of typing; I really had to finish all the work. At least now,  I'm back and I can type and have the time to update my blog. 

Day 1: To the Pound and Back...

My out back experience started with us going to the Wilpena pound, up north from Wilmington. We started our journey up to the lovely town of Quorn (pronounced like Corn). We were heading up North from there too, up towards Hawker before finally reaching the Ranges. This range of hills is part of what is known as the Flinders Ranges. We did not want to do the really big walks as we were in danger of getting really late, however, we did want to go up to the old hilltop house where the original farmers of the land had put up a house to live in. The journey up to the park took us about 2 hours. From there, we started trekking up along existing trails. I'd have much more liked it if it was just a half hazard walk in the bush, but no chance out there. It would really be quite far. Since Michael and Anne have been to this area before, I thought it best if I took up the chance to simply enjoy the lovely scenery. Smith had the camera and I knew he'll take every pic he could think of. I was just happy to enjoy the scenery. Walking along the creek bed, we could see where the flooding caused havoc to where there was lush greenery because of the little amount of water that has collected. These were some of the wonderful scenery that we met with along this beautiful journey.

Our first stop was an extremely old farm station that still has building standing from the early 19th century. This was a sheep farm with places for the shearers to live as well as the family homestead. This whole place was made from the very soil on which we walked and it was easy to tell because of the colour of the walls. It resembled in every way, the surrounding soil. This was amazing. walking into the ruins was like taking a walk down history more than 100 years back. Who knew, I might just have walked up to the bank of the creek that ran along the homestead just like its first inhabitants; or looked back out from the creek to the plains that extended to the region. This was an area plagued with drought and good rainfall with the passing of seasons. This was the out backs of Australia. This was the legacy that the white settlers from Europe made here in Australia.

Our next stop would be a lovely lunch break under a tree with a sitting area just to have lunch. This place offered a wonderful view of the area around us with the hills standing up against the horizon and then another set of hills further than the first. Our trip started to show us more and more of the wild Kangaroo. This was the edge of what we later came to know as the entrance to Wilpenna Pound. 

[to be cont...]

Christmas Pageant & Diwali Extravaganza

Cooking may not be my forte, however, I can cook enough to get a decent meal on the table. I won't disagree, this time I had a very helpful helping hand. His name is none other than my good friend, Mr Smithson Sunny. We decided to take over the kitchen and make chappathi's and chicken curry for more than just a few people. More like 20 of them. Yey. And I have to agree it succeeded. But my day did not just start there. It started early in the morning.
I was going to get ready to go for the Christmas Pageant in Adelaide. This is supposed to be the show where everyone gathers into the city for a morning of fun as a large group of people welcome the christmas spirit into the city. Many of the things here, I disagreed with very strongly but none the less, I did make my way to this huge event. The main street in Adelaide was shut down for this programme and everyone that you could think of was there. Now for my Indian friends reading this blog, you'll find my explanation of the number of people that I saw quite ridiculous. Why? one might ask. Well, its simple; the number of people that lined the streets along the streets of Adelaide was supposed to be a large crowd. Now, i'm sure when I say there is a crowd, one should try to see T-Nagar during Diwali shopping season. That is what I call a crowd. This was more like T-Nagar at 9:00am in the morning. As the shops start to get opened on a low sale day. That is what you would feast your eyes to. However, there were many things that did appeal to my eyes. I was wondering how organised and orderly the crowd was. I have seen in many places the use of barricades to keep people off the road when such kind of event's take place. This was unique because, everyone simply lined up along the streets but stayed off the actual road. No one was pushing and shoving so as to get to the front, rather, everyone was simply trying to catch a higher spot. I saw people climbing trees and it reminded me of Zacchaeus who climbed the sycamore tree to spot Jesus on the road as he travelled down. The only difference was this time every one wanted to see the various floats as it passed down the road but more so, the santa clause that came up the end.
The Pageant consisted of about 90 plus floats that travelled along the city's main streets and various different expressions of christmas and festivities were portrayed in it. Each float had something significant to itself. From the police band, army band, to celtic bagpipes playing to the tune of Christmas; this was an extravaganza that the whole city turned up to see. I enjoyed every moment of it, however, My sights were more focused on what to do once the whole parade had finished and both Smith and myself had to get cooking. That was something I was not really anticipating. I have to understand that one cannot really prepare for the worst.
We decided that for the party, about 20 people would be present, and we thought chappati and chicken curry would be easiest option. And so we made a good 50 chappathi's I think. Once we were done, we packed and got ready to spend a good night full of food, music and lights. Yes, the diya's were all lit and a beautifully arranged. (I hope i can get the pictures to upload)
Exhausted and totally inept to do anything, I went home just as the clock struck 11pm and crashed for a wonderful night's sleep. I really needed it. I had to start with my portfolio and that was not something that was very pleasant for me; especially since I could not do a thing.
(Just so that everyone knows; I stopped writing anything in my blog because of this for the last 4 weeks. I'm really glad to be done with the portfolio)
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